Poll: do you think democracy works as it should?

College Confidential Community
1

<p>(1) Yes
(2) No
(3) Context-dependent</p>

<p>In (a) the way the system is designed to work and (b) in the way you desire things to work?</p>

<p>And why?</p>

<p>(a)
Yes:
No: 1
(b)
Yes:
No: 1</p>

<p>Anyways I’m currently reading [Amazon.com:</a> The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies: Books: Bryan Caplan](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Rational-Voter-Democracies-Policies/dp/0691129428]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Rational-Voter-Democracies-Policies/dp/0691129428)
“The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies”. basically, voters aren’t just ignorant (as polls consistently show, fewer than 50% of people can actually identify their senators), but they’re irrational as well. they do not desire to learn anything that contradicts their belief systems - for their belief systems make them feel happier. i don’t need specific examples to show which belief systems in America are inconsistent and held by a very large number of the American public. And of course, voters do not understand government very well. Few voters know what the president has power over and what the president doesn’t have power over.</p>

<p>==
the other issue of course, is that America’s model of representative democracy isn’t the only form of democracy. there are other forms of democracy as well (such as the pure form of direct voting - which has the obvious flaw that people simply don’t have enough time to educate themselves on every single policy).</p>

2

<p>And yes i realize the very irony that i posted a poll along with this thread (although this does not involve a decision - rather - it is just to provoke responses that may contain insights)</p>

<p>and i need to change the question too. because “designed to work in the way it works” is VERY vague. it can’t perfectly work as it should in the way it was designed to work. but it can’t have a success rate of 0% either. rather, the MORE APPROPRIATE question should be, “do you think democracy is the best government that is possible, given the circumstances of 21st century civilization?” and do you think it works better in the US compared with other countries, or that it would work better in other countries relative to the US?</p>

3

<p>no, no</p>

<p>large-scale society will never function optimally</p>

4

<p>sorry I changed the question. Is it the MOST optimal of all strategies?</p>

<p>(no political system will function totally optimally0</p>

5

<p>Local democracy is actually very effective. This is most likely because a) many, many, many people in one area share the same viewpoint, regardless of political affiliation, and b) if County Commissioner Smith makes a bad decision, you let him know when you see him on Saturday morning at Costco. It doesn’t work that way with national politics.</p>

<p>So my answer:
Local (1) Yes
National (2) No</p>